MSS: Greg Winslow

Peter Busch: This is the Morning Swim Show for Wednesday, February 1st, 2012. I'm your host Peter Busch in the FINIS Monitor today we will talk to Greg Winslow. He is the head swim coach at the University of Utah. They are finishing up their first season in the Pac-12 Conference. Coach Winslow joins us right now in the FINIS Monitor from Salt Lake City. Coach, welcome to the Morning Swim Show, how are you?

Greg Winslow: Doing great. Thanks for having me.

Peter Busch: How are you liking the new conference?

Greg Winslow: I love it in the new conference. It is great to be part of Pac-12 and it has been great experience getting to swim against the fastest conferences in the country.

Peter Busch: Yeah, we will step up in competition isn't?

Greg Winslow: It is a big change it is like kind of you finally got to go to the deep end of the pool.

Peter Busch: Well that is a good way to put it. How have you and your team adjusted to swimming against faster swimmers?

Greg Winslow: Our team has been phenomenal with it. It has been a really good experience for not only our older swimmers, but our younger swimmers as well you know getting to go out to Cal and been announcing, "Hey here is the national runner up. Oh and the other one is national champ." You don't get to do that all the time. It has been great for us and it has been really stepped up our performance and just our focus too it has been great.

Peter Busch: You moved to Utah from Arizona State about 5 years ago right?

Greg Winslow: I did.

Peter Busch: Tell me about you know the adjustment school to school and just for you as a coach in those past 5 years?

Greg Winslow: I think the biggest challenge for me is kind of changing the culture right here at Utah and getting guys and women that wanted to be something special and I think that Coach Mike Litzinger did a nice job kind of changing it and starting it on its way. And we are getting back to kind of the traditional Utah swimming when you are top 10 team and we are moving in that direction hopefully here in the next few years. But that was a big change obviously coming from Arizona it was great to get out of that heat in the facilities up here aren't quite the great facilities down there along the campus which I have also said a lot and we use that in the spring and the summer to get us ready for Trials and things like that and the support from the athletic department has been fantastic.

Peter Busch: I'm going to say what kind of resources would you say you have to build the kind of program that you want and where would you like to see them improve?

Greg Winslow: Well, obviously it has already been improving and just this year we went from two coaches to four coaches on deck. I think the Pac-12 had a lot to do with that in getting the money that are coming in from being a part of that conference and I think Utah is a great place to be right now as far as you know a lot of schools are getting a lot of the money coming in to the athletic departments would be in a part of a conference, but Utah has been successful you know in our basketball program in Final Four and our football program being able to go to you know the Sugar Bowl and the undefeated seasons. And they have been doing that on a shoestring budget so now it is like Christmas every day for every part of our athletic department and you know that trickles all the way down to the swim program and we have been able to see it you know and just didn't help with great coaches and get -- staff here.

And then with our kids and the way we are treated and not taking buses to the middle of nowhere to go to some meets but flying out to Cal and Stanford or flying down to Arizona and Arizona State or UCLA or USC. You can't beat it.

Peter Busch: This is your first year recruiting knowing that you are in the Pac-12 was it easier to get a kid to visit your school now knowing that those are the teams you can say you will swim against every year?

Greg Winslow: It is easier and harder I think that a lot more kids stayed on the line a lot longer because they were interested. But we got phenomenal recruiting class by far, the best recruiting class both men and women that I have been a part of since I have been here. And kids are definitely interested instead of swimming against some of the teams that we were in the past, although they are great teams and well coached. You know it is a unique experience to stand up on the block at Stanford right, USC and get to race some of those programs.

Peter Busch: Toughest team in the Pac-12 that you saw this year. This is sort of my back door way of asking who is going to win the NCAA championship your prediction.

Greg Winslow: Wow, good question, thanks a lot. I think Cal women I have been—I was part of the Pac-10 before doing part of this but the Cal women were phenomenal by far the best team I have seen top to bottom in a long time not just this year and Teri has done a great job out there.

And with the men, having got to see Arizona except for results, we haven't, we didn't swim this year just because Eric [Hansen] was new and was our first year in here. We will see them in the future but you know I have been impressed with what they have done but as far as live I think Stanford was really impressive when they swam out there.

Peter Busch: See those are my picks. I think Cal is going to win on the women's side and I'm picking Arizona to win the guys. So you are in quite the conference this year for sure.

Greg Winslow: No kidding. It has been fun.

Peter Busch: Tell us about some of the swimmers on your team that we might see at NCAAs and that had kind of led the squads this year?

Greg Winslow: Well we have Hannah Caron on the women's side, she is a senior this year and Hannah has done a fantastic job. She made NCAAs last year so she kind of that was the first time there and kind of get to see what it is all about and experience that but she has had her best year training so far and has been really focused in you know— this is our 4th year working together too so I know Hannah pretty well and knows what she needs and Traycie Swartz is another one.

Traycie is somebody that swam for me back when I coached on Sun Devils when I was down at ASU and has come up here to go to the school and she is going to be good. She took a couple of years off swimming after I left the desert and the last year was a first year back in the pool for a couple of times but— And I think you are going to see something special I wouldn't be surprised what she made finals this year at NCAA. And the guys side— the guy at a freshman out of southern California will swim at Schubert I don't know if you remember that name but he is going to be really good in the future and hopefully makes NCAAs this year. The meets gotten so fast I think we are going to break our school record by 5-1/2 seconds in the 400 free relay and might not make the meet. It is going to be fun.

Peter Busch: Well, welcome to the big, boys club right?

Greg Winslow: No kidding, no kidding.

Peter Busch: Well we are glad that you as a coach and your team and your school are in a better place and it is going to be fun to watch you guys progress through the years in the new Pac-12.

Greg Winslow: And I will just keep reminding them to keep their head down at the finish.

Peter Busch: Yes, thank you, somebody is watching until the end of the show. Thanks coach for joining us. Good luck.

Greg Winslow: Thanks for having us.

Peter Busch: Alright, that is Greg Winslow joining us from the University of Utah. He stole my line I'm Peter Busch, reminding you to keep your head down at the finish.